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Heart O' Glass
Location: Renton, Washington Date: August 13, 1991 Story On August 13, 1991, Leah Eades was outside on a picnic blanket with her grandchildren, five-year-old Kendra and Jared, while babysitting them. Her husband, Duard, was asleep on a lawn chair. Kendra asked if she could go in and get a graham cracker. Leah said yes and to come right back out. So she ran to the house, opened the storm door, ran to the kitchen, and got one. On her way out, she reached for the doorknob, but ran through the glass instead. Leah and Duard sprang into action. Duard didn't see anything on the spot, so he picked Kendra up, rushed her to the kitchen, and set her on the counter. She stiffed up and that's when they saw the blood coming out of her chest. Leah called 911 while Duard tried to help Kendra with mouth-to-mouth resuscitation while holding his hand on the wound, but it wasn't working. Dispatcher Michelle Locko, who at first thought the situation wasn't life threatening and was just some lacerations, sent units from the Renton Fire Department to their house, but she found out from Leah and the sounds on the phone that she wasn't breathing or bleeding out. Locko sent a King County Medic One ambulance unit which specializes in Advanced Life Support as well. "The possibility that she would die in front of her grandmother and grandfather went through my mind," Locko stated. As she tried to give out some medical tips to Leah in order to help Kendra, she forwarded it to Duard. But they thought that she wasn't going to make it. The ambulance with EMT Mark Brenn and his partner arrived first, along with the fire department. When they checked Kendra out, they found her clinically dead (no pulse, rhythm, or heartbeat) and they took over care from Leah and Duard. Medic One paramedics Mel McClure and Tom Gudmestad arrived a few minutes after and immediately commenced advanced life-support. They started squeezing fluids into Kendra to replenish the massive blood loss. Gudmestad states, "The chance of surviving from traumatic cardiac arrest is pretty grim. It's very hard to work on a dead 5-year-old girl. Very hard. Everyone's emotional pitch was tuned up to the higher degree. Everybody wants to save this little girl. And all the time, there's a voice in the back of your head saying go, go, go." They finally got a pulse after 10 minutes. They rushed Kendra to a landing zone at a nearby school, where a helicopter would land to transport her. McClure and the others heard on the radio that she flatlined in the helicopter and they started CPR. He thought they lost her, despite how far they got to resuscitate her. But the flight nurses managed to restart her heart. Kendra was then flown to Harborview Medical Center under the care of trauma surgeon Dr. Timothy Pullman. He and the others performed emergency surgery on her where they discovered and managed to remove a huge shard of glass from down in her heart. The surgeons stood in amazement. "We were very surprised. I never encountered a piece of glass sticking out of the heart," Dr. Pullman stated. Kendra's parents, Allen and Kathy, got the call and arrived at the hospital. After the surgery, Dr. Pullman said she had a 25% chance of living. Kendra was transferred to Children's Health and Medical Center where she was placed in a drug-induced coma to give her a best chance to heal. Her parents stood by her side as long as possible. As days went by, her condition began to deteriorate. A medical team, including a cardiologist, saw that the wound in her heart wasn't healing properly. She needed an emergency surgery to repair it, despite chances that it might be too weak to survive. She underwent four hours of delicate open-heart surgery. Amazingly, Kendra came out of her coma and had an amazing recovery after two months. She is now as active as she was before the accident with no restrictions. Allen and Kathy are grateful to everyone who worked hard to save her. Rescue workers praised Leah and Duard for performing first aid on her which allowed them to save her in time. "The real heroes here are the grandparents because they're the ones who started the rescue breathing. That brought us the time we needed to save her," McClure stated. Locko states that every person, every parent, and every child old enough should know not only adult CPR, but infant and child CPR as well. "They took me to the hospital and got me all better, so I can come home like I am now. I'm glad to be home now so I can play with my brother," Kendra said. Leah recalls, "When I see her play, I just want to soak it in my eyes What a miracle she is. I just love her with all my heart." Trivia The animated clips of the ambulance driving on a flat road followed by a fire truck were taken from this segment. Category:1991 Category:Washington Category:Glass Category:Bleeding Category:Impalement Category:Cardiac Arrest